Automatic switching apparatus for telephone-exchange systems



J. N. REYNOLDS.

AUTOMATIC swncnma APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-l, [9|]- 1,383,756. Patented July 5, 1921.

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-nmmf /nvenfor:- John Wen berry Reynolds by Affy .I. N. REYNOLDS.

AUTOMATIC SWITCHING APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.APPLICATION FILED AUG-1,1917- 1,383,756. Patented y 5, 1921..

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//7 yen/0r.- Jofin A/eWbe/ry Reyna/d5 by W 1. N. REYNOLDS. AUTOMATIC.SWlTCHlNG APPARATUS FOR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE SYSTEMS.

Patented July 5, 1921.

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APPL| CATION FILED AUG-1, I917- //7 WM for:

I John A m brrry Reynolds.

by I WA y:

UNITED STATES PATENT mg;

JOHN N. REYNOLDS, or. ennnnw rcn, coimnc'rrou'r, ASSiGNon T0 WESTERNELEC- TRIC COMPANY, INCORPORATED, on NEW YORK, n.1, A oonronA'rroN orNEW YORK.

AUTOMATIC swn'c'mlvo- APPARATUS non TELEPHONE-EXCH N E SYSTEMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 5,1921.

Application filed August 1, 1917.; Serial No. 184,000. i

tems, and is a modification of the switch shown and described inanapplication to the same inventor, Serial No. 158,190, filed March 29th,1917. t I t In said application, Serial No. 158,190 filed March 29th,1917 ,thereis shown and i described a switch in which there are apluoperation. It isthe object of this invention rality of unit layers ofmultiple contacts mounted in superimposed relation to each other, andbrushes, each adapted to be selectively moved to the layers and.transversely to the contacts of a, selected layer.

Only two electromagnets are used in the operation of the switch, one forstepping the brushes, the other for controlling thechangeover fromone'character of steppingvto the other and for controlling the releaseof the Switch. V H

While a switch made in accordance with the invention: of saidapplication Serial No.

158,190 has its advantages from an operative and cost standpoint, itrequires a departure from the standardform of circuits for such switchesto adapt it to the present systems of to provide a switch operating onthe principles above outlined, which maybe readily adapted to existingcircuits with butslight" change in the wiring. Y

i In accordance withthe generalfeaturesof this invention the switch ofthe earlier application is modified to include a third magnet which isused forreleasing "the brushes at thetermination of a connection.

' In the drawings illustrating the invention, Figure lis a view in sideelevation of a brush operating mechanism embodying features of thisinvention; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view taken upon the line 2 2 ofFig. 1;

3 is a sectional view taken upon the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is aperspective view of a part of the brushoperating mechanism; and

Fig. 5 is a view showing the manner in which the apparatus embodying thefeatures of this invention may be wired in a system Referring first toFig. 1, the referencenumerals 5, 5 designate a plurality ofmultiple andconsists in general of a plurality of longitudinally extendingconductors 'insulated from each other and divided into sets. Eachconductor of each set has a plurality of brush contactingsurfacesthereon, the

contacting surfaces of adjacent conductors I of the same set beinglongitudinally sepa ,rated from each other and the contactlng surfacesof corresponding conductors of the severalsets being in the same.transverse line of the strip.

The brush operating mechanism, which l is illustrated in detail in Figs.1' to 1 inclu sive, is designed to move the brushes step-bystep to theseveral levels of multiple contact strips 5, 5 and transversely thereofto selected contacts of a strip. Asshown inthe drawings, .6, 6.designate brushes mounted upon a carriage 7 which is secured to, ashaft8. The shaft 8 is secured to a, frame plate ,9

by members 11 and 11. Located adjacent to, V

the shaft 8 is a toothed bar 12 adapted to be engaged by a stepping pawl14: carried by an armature 15 of a stepping magnet 20. The toothedrbaris supported by collars 21- and 22 which are-slidable upon the shaft 8.Also; slidably mounted upon the shaft 8, is a notched bar 2 1with anextension 25 adapted to engage a notch 26 .in the toothed bar 12 so asto lock thetwo bars together in the normal position of the switch.

In the first movement of th apparatus response to impulses through thestepping jmagnet 20, the pawl .14 will engage the toothed bar 12 to movesaid bar 12 and the notched bar 24 upwardly in steps equal in H,

in contact with'the first set of contacts of length to the distancebetween two successive teeth on said bar 12. Each of these steps will beequal to the vertical distance between adjacent multiple contact layersand will continue until the brushes 6, 6 have been moved into a positionopposite a desired layer. At the cessation of the first series ofimpulses through the stepping magnet 20 a side switch magnet 30 will becaused to operate. This magnet by its armature 49 controls the operationof a side switch and the movement of the levers 46 and 50. function oftheside switch is to prepare circuits at the proper times for thecontrol of the automatic switch. An arm'85 of the side switch carries aset of brushes 36 adapted to wipe over a series of contacts 37 arrangedin the arc of a circle. The arm is held under tension by a spring 38.The arm 35 is released step by step under the influence of spring 38 byan escapement mechanism con trolled by the armature 49 of the magnet 30.This e'scapement mechanism consists of a member 40, notched on bothsides and fixed to the arm 35, and a pair of arms 41 and 42 pivoted onthe armature pivot pin 43. These two arms tend to move together underthe influence of aspring 44. The arm 35 also carries a cam 45 to controlthe movement of the lever 46 pivoted at 47 and normally under thetension of spring 48.

I In the normal position of the side switch the arm 42 is in engagementwith the first 'tooth on the right-hand side of the member as shown. Inthis position the brushesare the bank 37, and the cam 45 positions thelever 46 to hold the arm 79 01" lever 50 pivoted at 52 which isnormallyunder tension of spring 51, in engagement with the arm 10 oflever 46. The teeth on the member 40 of the side switch are so arrangedas to cause the brush set 36 to advance one step upon the retractivemovement of the armature 49.

Afterthe cessation of the first set of impulsesthrough themagnet 20 bymeans of which the brushes 6, 6, were raised to the desired level, therewillbe an operation of the armature or the magnet 36 to cause the sideswitch to be advanced one step by the arms-41 and 42. This first step ofthe side switch causes the movement of the lever 46 by the roller 58pressing against the cam 45. This movementof the lever 46 causes an arm59 thereon to .move the extension 25 of notched bar 24, normallytensioned by spring 20, out of engagement with the notch 26 of thetoothed bar 12, and the notched bar 24 into engagement with the latchpiece 29. This releases the toothed bar 12 from the notched bar 24,looking the latter, how

ever, against. movement, so thatsubsequent' The. 1

sets of contact surfaces.

raised the extension 620i the lever 50 will be swung around the pivot 52until it engageswith the stop 61, thereby limiting the downward movementof the armature 15 to one half of the distance of its downward movementbefore. The first long step of the toothed bar 12 will operate abell-crank lever to move the brush carriage 7 in a direction at rightangles to the shaft 8 and through a distance equal to the distancebetween two successive teeth on the bar 12. This first step of the brushcarriage is sullicient to bring the brushes 6, 6 into engage- "ment withcontacts in the first row of the selected strip 5. The succeeding stepsof the bar, however, in response to impulses through the magnet 20, dueto the extension 62 of the lever 50 being moved about the pivot 52 tohigher position so as-to engage the stop 61 and rest on the under edgeof the armature 15, will only be half the distance oi the'impulses ofthe first series and the first impulse of the second series, so that thesubsequent movement of the brushes 6. 6 will be only the distancebetween successive A sufficient number of current impulses of the secondseries will be sent to move. the brushes 6, 6 into engagement with aselected set of terminals inthe strip selected by the first set ofimpulses. Upon the cessation'of the second series of impulses thearmature of the mag net 30 will again be operated to cause the movementof the side switch one step further. The moving of the side switch tothe thirdset of contacts has no further effect upon the positions of thebrush-operating parts but may prepare the circuit for ringing the calledsubscribers line. At theend of the ringing a third energization of themagnet 30 may take place to move the wipers 86 into the fourth positionand to move the arm 77 of the armature of the release magnet 74 intoengagement with the lug 16 of the member 40 and the other arm 19 intoengagement with the lower end of the lever 50 and the extension '71 ofthe plate 72. i l

.The moving of the side switch into the fourth position has no furthereffect on the position of the brush operating mechanism. The parts willremain in the position with the wipers inthe fourth position during theconversational period, at the end of which time the operation ofdisconnection will cause energization of the magnet 74. Energization ofmagnet 74 causes the arm 19 of the armature of the magnet 74 to'engagean extension 71 of the pivotal plate 72,. which carries a pawl 7 5normallyadaptedto engage the teeth of the toothed bar12 to retain it inits elevated position. -The engaging of arm 19 with the extension 71 ofthe plate 72 causes the latter to be turned about its axis, throwing thepawl 75 out of engagement with the toothed plate 12. This will cause thetoothed plate 12 to drop by gravity and cause the brush carriage 7 tomove outwardly, assisted by a spring 76, to draw the brushes 6, 6 clearofthe contact strips 5, 5.

At the instant of energization of magnet 74,- the arm 77 of the armatureof'magnet 74 also engages a projecting lug 16 on the side-switch wipers116, 117,-controlled by amember 40. This with assistance of the spring38 swings the wipers back into normal position, allowing the lever 46 toassume its normal position aided by the spring48. The arm 19 of thearmature of release mag- 1 net 74 is of sufficientwidthto engage thelower end of lever 50 so that when toothed plate 7 2 is turned about itspivot the lever 50 is also thrown out of engagement with the stop 61 andthe extension 79 is again held by When the that the device is notlimited to this specific Referring to Fig. 5, A may represent a callingsubscribers station, the 11116; for which is connected with line switchterminals 111, 111 adapted to be engaged by movable contacts 112, 1.12.Assuming that the subscriber at A desires connection with asubscriber,say 'ata substation B, the operation will be as follows: Thesubscriber-A; upon removal of his receiver from the switchhook willautomatically have his line connected: with the movable contacts "112,1121n a'well known way through the operation of a line switch. Followingthe closure of the line switch contacts, a relay 115 will be energizedover the line circuit through position 1 of selector switch 120,embodying the features of this invention. The energization of' relay 115will cause it to openits back contact 121, and close its frontcontact'122 to ground, thereby completing a parallel circuit, one: limbincluding a slow release relay 123, the other limb including a testrelay 124, the" lattercircuit including a side-switch wiper 125 in itsfirst position. Upon energization the test relay becomes locked up overacircuitincluding. its own contact, side-switch wiper 126 in its firstand second positions and a horizontal off-normal contact 127 of theselector 120. The slow releaserelay 123 upon energization opens backcontact 128 3 and closes front contacts 129 and 130. After removing hisreceiver from the hook, the subscriber A will operate his dial in theusual manner to sendthe requisite number of impulses to move the brushes6,6 into 0- sition to'engage contacts in the level with which switchingapparatus associated with the: subscriber B may be connected. In theparticular instance we will assume that contacts in the fourth level ofthe contact strip 5, 5 are sought, in which case four impulses will besent from station A. These impulses .open thecircuit of the relay 115 tocause it to intermittently close its back contact 121 which completes acircuit for slow release magnet 131 in series with the stepping mag net20 of the selector switch 120, which circuit includes side-switch wiper132 in its first position. Relay 131, in pulling up,

closes its contact 133 to complete a circuit from ground throughside-switch wiper 134 and the side-switch magnet 30. The relays 123 and131 both being slow release will holdup during the sending of impulses,

The stepping magmet 20, however, will re spond to the impulsesresultingfrom the opening and closing of the contact 121 to step the toothed bar12 and with it the notched bar 24 and brushes 6, 6 upwardly in steps ofa lengthequal to the'vertical separation of the layers 5, 5. At the endof the fourth step or impulse from the station A, the relay will remainenergized and open the circuitofthe relay 131 at contact 121, causing itto drop back and open the circuit ofthe sideswitch magnet30 at thecontact 133. The

armature 49 of the side-switch magnet 30, in releasing steps theside-switch wipers fromth'eir firstto their second position. Themovement of the side-switch wipers from their -first to their secondposition, swings the lever 46 about its pivot 47 releasing lever 50,unlocks toothed bar 12 from notched bar i 254, and locks notched bar 24againstmovement by means" oflatchpiece 29. Also it places the-extension62 of lever 50 in position so that the extension will be moved intoengagement with stop 61 and under the armature 15 of stepping magnet 20.As soon as the side-switch wiper 36 is moved from 7 its first to itssecond position a circuit will be completed for thestepping magnet 20which may be traced from ground through a front contact 1360f test relay124, armature 15 of stepping magnet 20, contact 137 on said armature,side-switch wiper 132 in its second position and through the magnet 20tobattery. This circuit will exist so long as the relay 124 is retainedenergized. Upon the first horizontal step of the brushes 6, 6 however,the bell crank lever 70 rotates about its pivot and the, horizontaloff-normal contact 127 will be opened to transfer the holding circuit ofrelay 124 to the shortest brush 6 of the set which constitutes the testbrush.

The first horizontal step of the brushes 6, 6 will be a long one, ashereinbefore described, and will bring said brushes into engagement withthe first set of contacts 2, 3 and 4 of the layer. If any of thecontacts of this set have been taken for use by another switch, therewill be a ground on the. contacts 4, which will hold the relay 124energized until the stepping magnet 20 has made another step. Thisstepping, operation will be continued until the brushes 6, 6 land on aset of contacts, the contact 4 of which is not grounded. When thisoccurs, the circuit for the test magnet 124 will be opened, which willcause it to open the stepping magnet circuit. At I the time that theside-switch wipers moved from their first to their second position, thewiper 134 completed an energizing circuit for the side-switch magnet 80from a front contact 137 on the relay 124, which caused it to draw upits armature 49. As soon as the relay 124 becomes deenergized by reasonof the brushes 6, 6 landing on idle contacts, this last traced circuitwill be opened and the armature 49 will release to move all of theside-switch wipers from their second to their third position.

In their third positions, the wipers 116, 117 connect the circuit ofstation A with conductors 140, 141 leading to the longest and middlebrushes 6, 6. This connection includes contacts 142, 142 ofa relay 143which is energized over a circuit including the front contact 129 of therelay 123. The relay 115 is retained in bridge of the line of station Aand so remains until the completion of the conversation and thesubscriberA hangs up his receiver to break the clrcuit of 111511116.l/Vhen this occurs relay- 115 releases, opening the circuit of relay 128at'contact 122, causing saidrelay 123'to release to close its backcontact 128. The closure of contact 128 completes an energizing circuitfor the side-switch magnet.30 which includes a side-switch'wiper 145 inits third position, an interrupting contact 149 on the. armature 49 ofthe side-switch magnet 30,

the winding of side-switch magnet 30 and battery. This causes theside-switch magnet 30 to pull up and-release its armature to step thewipersinto their fourth position;

In the fourth position of the side-switch wiper 145 release magnet 74 isenergized over ground, back contact 128 of relay 123, side-switch wiper145 in its fourth position,

winding of release magnet 74 to battery."

When the armature of release magnet 74 pulls up, arm 77 engages lug16 onmember .40 and arm 19 engages extension 71 of piv- Oted plate 72, andlower end of lever 50, causing the side-switch wipers to be returned tonormal position and toothed plate 12 and notched plate 24 to be releasedand returned to normal, as hereinbefore described.

. What is claimed is:

1. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, a movable contactmember, a stepping pawl for moving said contact member in two distinctlyseparate movements in different directions to engage said stationarycontacts, means for operating said pawl, means for holding said movablecontact in advanced position, and a release magnet for releasing saidholding means to restore the movable contact to its normal position.

I pawl for moving said contact member in. two

distinctly separate movements in different directlons to engage saidstationary contacts, means for determinmg the change-over from .onecharacter of movement to the other,

holding means for maintaining said movable contact member in advancedposition, and a release magnet for releasing said holding means torestore the movable contact to its normal position.

4. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, a movable contact memberadapted to .be moved in two distinctly separate movement into engagementwith stationary contacts, a single step-by-step mechanism fortransmitting the separate movements to said movable contact member, anelectrically operated 'escapement switch for controlling the changeoverfrom one character of movement to the'other, holding means formaintaining said movable contact member in its operated position, and areleasemagnet for releasing said holding means and for returning saidescapement switch to normal position.

5. In an automatic switch, a longitudina'lly movable rod, acontactmember carried by said rod and movable independently thereof, a toothed.member normally connected with said rod and said contact member,step-by-step, mechanism for operating said toothed member to move saidrod, escapemcnt controlled mechanism for moving said rod from engagementwith said toothed pawlcooperating with said toothed member,

and electrically controlled means for disengaging said holding pawl fromsaid toothed member and returning said escapement controlled means tonormal position to cause the restoration of said contact member tonormal position.

6. In an automatic switch, stationary contacts, brushes cooperatingtherewith, a stepping pawl for advancing said brushes in two distinctlyseparate movements in difl'erent directions, a single electromagnet forop- 10 I erating said pawl, means for holding said brushes in advancedposition, and a magnet for releasing said holding means to restore thebrushes to their normal position.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe 15 my name this 30th day of JulyA. D., 1917.

JOHN N. REYNOLDS.

